Main menu

Sub menu

The Mean-Spirited GOP Platform for 2012

by • August 22, 2012

It’s well known that Orange County is the place that former President Ronald Reagan said “All good Republicans go to die.” When taking a look the the GOP platform being circulated ahead of the party’s 2012 national convention in Tampa, we have to wonder if there are any “good” Republicans left in this extreme Right Wing Party.

The party platform draft is all for outlawing gay marriage, all forms of abortion, and repealing healthcare reform. The later is interesting as Obamacare has foundations in Romneycare, and Mitt Romney’s statements during his visit to Israel lauding that country’s healthcare cost controls ignored the fact that Israel has universal healthcare coverage and an individual mandate.

But today’s NY Times places the GOP Platform into context for the rest of the nation. Our conservative friends will denounce it as liberal media bias:

The Republican Party has moved so far to the right that the extreme is now the mainstream. The mean-spirited and intolerant platform represents the face of Republican politics in 2012. And unless he makes changes, it is the current face of the shape-shifting Mitt Romney.

The draft document is more aggressive in its opposition to women’s reproductive rights and to gay rights than any in memory. It accuses President Obama and the federal judiciary of “an assault on the foundations of our society,” and calls for constitutional amendments banning both same-sex marriage and abortion.

In defending one of the last vestiges of officially sanctioned discrimination — restrictions on the rights of gay men and lesbians to marry — the platform relies on the idea that marriage between one man and one woman has for thousands of years “been entrusted with the rearing of children and the transmission of cultural values.”

…

The draft attacks President Obama for not defending in court the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages. It calls that decision a “mockery of the President’s inaugural oath,” when in fact Mr. Obama would have been wrong to ignore lawyers who concluded that the law is unconstitutional.

In passages on abortion, the draft platform puts the party on the most extreme fringes of American opinion. It calls for a “human life amendment” and for legislation “to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.” That would erase any right women have to make decisions about their health and their bodies. There are no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, and such laws could threaten even birth control.

The draft demands that the government “not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage,” which could bar abortion coverage on federally subsidized health-insurance exchanges, for example.

The platform praises states with “informed consent” laws that require women to undergo medically unnecessary tests before having abortions, and “mandatory waiting periods.” Those are among the most patronizing forms of anti-abortion legislation. They presume that a woman is not capable of making a considered decision about abortion before she goes to a doctor. The draft platform also espouses the most extreme Republican views on taxation, national security, military spending and other issues.

I have to wonder how many OC Republicans embrace this platform and how they can defend it.

Section 304 Construction relating to separate coverage
‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as prohibiting any individual, entity, or State or locality from purchasing separate abortion coverage or health benefits coverage that includes abortion so long as such coverage is paid for entirely using only funds not authorized or appropriated by Federal law and such coverage shall not be purchased using matching funds required for a federally subsidized program, including a State’s or locality’s contribution of Medicaid matching funds”.

Section 305 Construction relating to the use of non-Federal funds for health coverage
‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as restricting the ability of any non-Federal health benefits coverage provider from offering abortion coverage, or the ability of a State or locality to contract separately with such
a provider for such coverage, so long as …”

“The Republican Party has moved so far to the right that the extreme is now the mainstream.”

Lets start with Gay marriage. California a very liberal state voted to ban gay marriage. Is California an extreme right wing state? Other states when presented with ballot measures have gone the same way.

Abortion another polarizing subject would probably be banned in most states if it were put up to a vote of the people. Is someones believe that life begins at conception an extreme position? I think not.

I don’t consider the platform to be right wing extremism. It is just the core values of many Republicans. Liberals seem to be the real haters. Liberals try to stop speech they don’t agree with. Spit on and throw things at people the don’t agree with. I would ask who is more extreme.

You can disagree with their belief but labeling them as extreme is a stretch. I personally don’t believe that the government should poke their nose into an individuals business but it is the liberals that want government to do everything for you.

So the next thing you will say is that I am one of them there extremists. That answer is a hell no! Well, I might be the extremist because I am a live and let live type of person.

I believe that what you do is your business and as long as you are not harming others the government should have no right to do anything about it.

Following that belief would make me pro choice. If the fetus is viable I would call it life and I don’t think that abortion as birth control would be right in that case.

I think anyone able to make a decision on their own can get married. Marriage is just a contract. Even polygamy should be ok if all parties are in agreement Forcing someone else to pay for your personal choices is not necessarily your right.

Now all of you leftists and right wing nut cases may just think I am extreme for believing that nobody should impose their will on me if I am not harming anyone. That’s your problem!